


The Start (of how it all ends)

by zanni_1 (zanni_scaramouche)



Series: In Your Eyes (the light, the heat) [3]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Child Abuse, Children with Guns, Gang AU, Grooming, Gun Violence, Kidnapping, Mafia AU, Non-Penetrative Sexual Assault, as in the slash is in Part 1, mentions of human trafficking, pre slash, this was a weird one
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-21
Updated: 2020-05-21
Packaged: 2021-03-02 20:27:11
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,679
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24302866
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zanni_scaramouche/pseuds/zanni_1
Summary: Derek can't remember the date he was born. All he knows is what Deucalion's told him.He’s eight and trying not to cry, he’s eleven and holding a gun, he’s fifteen and wiping a strangers blood off his face. His life is far from average, but sometimes that’s hard to forget when it’s the only one he has.PART 3 - Reading previous parts in the series is recommended but NOT necessary for full comprehension
Series: In Your Eyes (the light, the heat) [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1714648
Comments: 4
Kudos: 36





	The Start (of how it all ends)

**Author's Note:**

> This starts out in a very disjointed narrative voice. It is a chosen style that alters as the story moves along, please do not be put off by it. Things get better, I swear. 
> 
> I had a struggle converting this from the 1D version so it's maybe not that greatest thing to ever reside in my google docs, but eh. oh well. Still a pleasure to write. More lovely Lorde lyrics for the title. Honestly it's fun playing into this title trope, I'm so here for it. 
> 
> Blink and you miss it Kate/Derek

He’s been with Deucalion for two years. Deucalions says it’s his birthday even though it’s not really his birthday. It’s when he was ripped out of the hands of his mom when he lost sight of her at a busy park, and then he was ripped out of the hands of the mean guys who lied about having a dog and shoved him the back of a van, and now he holds Aiden’s hand while crossing the street. Aiden is nice. Deucalion is not nice, but he has a nice house with a big TV and Derek’s allowed to watch whatever he wants on it. Mom used to make him turn it off after an hour, and Laura always stole the remote. Aiden doesn’t care because he prefers to draw and sometimes he lets Derek colour it in even if he goes outside the lines, so that’s nice too. 

The new school is the same as his old school except all the people are different. His teacher Mr. Finstock does the voices when he reads a story to the class and Derek likes that a lot. Deucalion never reads bedtime stories like mom used to and sometimes Derek gets sad about it, but Deucalion doesn’t like it when they are sad so he hides under the covers and pretends he isn’t crying. Aiden always knows when he is, but he doesn’t tell. Derek thinks Aiden’s always a little sad so he tries to bring him the brightest markers home from school and it’s not stealing because he asked Mr. Finstock using please and thank you’s and he brings them back after they’ve used them. Aiden likes green best. Derek thought Aiden was his best friend but Aiden said they weren’t friends, they’re brothers. Derek’s not sure if he likes having a brother or sister more. He can’t talk about it so he tries not to think of Laura too much or else he gets sad again. 

There’s a new kid in his class and Derek's really excited because he was the new kid for a year and everyone already had friends. He has a funny smile some kids tease him about it and someone said Derek said something mean even though it wasn't Derek, it was the kid standing behind Derek, but the new kid couldn't see around him so he punched Derek in the face. When they're waiting in office for Deucalion the new kid says he's sorry and tells him he doesn’t have friends because he’s new, so Derek makes sure to be his friend. He makes Derek laugh a lot. They go on adventures like this one time they had really big sticks and pretended to be knights with swords but then Mr. Finstock put them in a time out because they’re not supposed to fight even if it’s pretend because they might hurt each other. Derek doesn’t want to hurt his friend because that would be mean and his mom told him no one likes meanies. Also his friend taught him how to spit really far and afterwards they shook hands with their spit in it and said they were brothers. Derek said he didn’t need another brother because he already had one, but he did need a best friend. So Scott’s his best friend forever. They shook on it and everything. 

Aiden is already nine which is really close to being ten so he doesn’t like to do a lot of the things Derek likes to do because he says they’re too kiddy. Derek likes to play with toys, but right now it’s really just the one dinosaur Deucalion’s friend Kali bought him for his pretend birthday. The candle on the cake had been an eight. He thinks dinosaurs are the coolest and he and Scott spend a lot of time making dinosaur sounds as they dig up their bones in the sand pit at school. Deucalion says he can’t be a dinosaur when he grows up and he’s not allowed in the house until all the sand is off. Derek tries his best but a lot of it gets in his hair and he can’t get it out until he gets to the bathtub. If Deucalion is grumpy he makes him use the hose and Derek doesn’t like that because it’s really cold and sometimes he cries which makes Deucalion grumpier. 

He has to tell Scott he can’t play in the sand pit anymore so they play cops and robbers with the other kids. Sometimes it makes Derek feel a little funny but he doesn’t know why. Deucalion says he can’t talk to cops and he gets really angry whenever aunt Kali talks about them. Derek’s not supposed to know what they talk about because Deucalion shuts the door to his office but sometimes he and Aiden will play spies and eavesdrop even though they always get caught and when they get caught they get in trouble. 

After his eleventh birthday, and he calls it his real birthday now because he can’t remember his old one, he gets in big trouble. Aiden says it first. His eyes go really wide and he uses a curse word because he does that a lot now. 

“We’re in big shit.”

That’s what he says while looking at the brand new bullet hole in the wall. The gun is left on the floor by Deucalion’s desk where they absolutely should not have been snooping, but they had and when they’d found the gun they’d thought there’s no way it would fire. They were wrong. And it doesn’t matter which one of them pulled the trigger because they’re both in the room when Deucalion slams open the door. Deucalion doesn’t usually hit them, and if he does it’s usually one strike to teach a lesson and make sure it sticks. The beating they get that day sure as hell makes the lesson stick. 

The issue is they won't tell him who did it. Derek keeps saying he didn’t do it and Aiden says he didn’t do it, and Deucalion keeps saying he’s not going to stop until they tell him who. When Derek’s older he’ll know Deucalion was only pushing them around, manhandling them but not putting real force behind it because he might have been an ass but he was far from stupid. He doesn’t know that at eleven years old. All he knows is he’s been pushed to the ground while Deucalion's crouches down by the desk and Aiden is keeping his head down. Then he sees Deucalion pick up the gun and point it at Aiden. 

“Derek’s too much of a pussy to touch a gun, I know it was you Aiden. Say you’re sorry.” He’s using the dad voice he uses in public sometimes and it’s so out of place the whole world tilts until it doesn’t make sense for Derek. 

“But it wasn’t me,” Aiden whines and drags his sleeve under his nose. Derek thinks maybe he’s crying even though he says crying is for babies. He doesn’t know for sure because his eyes are locked disbelievingly on the gun.

Deucalion tsks, “C’mon, don’t be a liar now.” 

Something about his casualness, the relaxed position of his shoulders, the tilt of his head, scares Derek more than rage ever could. It urges him into action. 

“It was me!” Derek throws himself in front of Aiden before the other boy can say a thing. He hiccups through his statement, chest jerking with adrenaline, “It was me, I did it. It was my idea to break into your office. It was me who-who fired the gun.” 

“Derek,” Aiden whispers sharply and nudges him in the back. 

Derek stumbles a little at Aiden’s push so he steps forward right up to the gun and covers it with his small hands to press it against his forehead. Deucalion’s stony face looks down at him like a giant ready to stomp him out, the muzzle held steady. 

“You’re sure?” 

Derek nods, squinting a lot because he’s crying and Deucalion hates it when he’s crying but he’s going to have to forgive him one last time. “Yes sir, it was me.” 

Aiden’s still tugging at his back and trying to talk over him when Deucalion pulls the trigger and the gun clicks. 

A moment of silence. Derek’s holding his breath, fat tears rolling down his face. Deucalion lowers the gun. 

“What a great show of disappointment.” 

He takes Derek’s limp hand and places the gun in it. The cold steel weight of it feels like an anchor dragging him down to the bottom of the ocean. It sure sounds like the ocean is rushing through his ears when Deucalion makes stern eye contact with a harsh grip on his shoulder.

“You can trust no one in this world. Understood?” 

Derek nods his head, still trembling beneath his heavy hold and catching his breath. 

“Understood.” He croaks. 

Deucalion holds the door open. 

“Aiden, wait here for Kali. Derek, let’s show you how to shoot for real, hm?” He doesn’t look back to see if Derek is following. Wherever Deucalion goes he will always follow. He has to. His last glimpse of Aiden is the pale anxious face of a twelve year old. The next day Derek will truly be an only child. 

In the hall Deucalion continues to berate him without sparing a glance. “You need to work on your lying. You stutter like a dunce.” 

Derek does work on his lying. In fact, he lies quite a lot in the next few years. He lies to Scott about why he wasn’t at footy practice when Deucalion pulls him out to uncle Cal’s farm to butcher cows and skin pigs. He lies about the bruises he gets from boxing in the basement when Deucalion wont let him stop until he physically drops from exhaustion. He lies about being the only one in the house when two armed men get the jump on him and pin him face down to the polished entrance hall floor. 

All those hours spent in the basement are useless when he’s a lanky fifteen against two mature men made of bricks. The guy on top of him laughs as he bucks up, Derek’s feet trying to hook his on the guys leg or get him with a head to the nose but it’s no use and he feels like a floundering fish as the guy straddles his back. He whoops and smacks Derek’s ass. 

“Oh he’s a little frisky one, ain't you? Does daddy dearest do it like this? Make you take it like a little bitch.”

The other man stands nearby to watch and both men jeer crudely at him. He tries to block it out but his face flushes in shame at the remarks they keep making. He’s touched a few girls, likes their soft curves almost as much as he likes the glimpses of shirtless players in the locker rooms, but the most he’s done is kiss that one girl with his tongue while palming her breast. Now he’s got near two hundred pounds humping against him and he can feel the obscene line of the man’s cock through layers of jeans. 

“C’mon lover boy, let’s see what you’ve got. Bet you’ll even like it,” The man’s breath on his skin wraps him in the humid stench of alcohol. “I wanna leave a little gift for pops right where I know he’ll find it.” 

A hand tugs the waist of his pants and Derek gets desperate. The only advantage of being his size is how slippery he can make himself be if he just keeps moving. Flailing madly he manages to twist onto his back as the man’s yanking at his jeans and finally, even with his hands pinned overhead in a clammy fist and his pants torn halfway down his thighs he manages to headbutt the guy hard enough to warrant an instant gush of blood. 

The man keeps Derek’s wrists pinned but grabs his bleeding face with the other hand and Derek gets a knee up into his balls with just enough force to weaken the hold. The other guy who’d been watching is one step away from keeping Derek down when blood explodes from his head with a bang. Derek flinches and slams his eyes shut, turning his head a second too late to avoid the spray as another bullet sounds and the body on top of him slumps. 

Hot blood trickles down his face, carving the same tracks his frustrated tears had taken like a weeping angel. Blindly he pushes the body off of him and stands on wobbly feet, tugging at his pants and realising his shirt is shredded where it was pulled on by meaty hands. His own fingers are steady as he wipes the mess from his eyes. When he can finally see, Isaac, the driver’s son who’d been washing the cars earlier is standing in the open front door and cast in shadow by the bright light outside. 

“It wasn’t loaded.” He says like he needs to explain why it took him ten minutes instead of two. 

Derek shrugs like he doesn’t really care. He just leans down and gets his arms under one of the body's armpits. A little green in the face Isaac grabs the feet and they lift in sync. That night Deucalion shows him how a human body is not much different from a pig. 

Derek startles at the hand on his shoulder the next day at school. He settles when Scott starts to holler into his ear with a mouthful of braces about their upcoming game. 

“You ready for it?”

The morning air is crisp, a light fog slowly rolling out as sun starts to glint in the dewy grass. Derek hadn’t seen any of it until it was paired with Scott’s ruddy face. With his friend's arm over his shoulder Derek takes his first breath of fresh air of the day. He’s no longer Derek, the missing boy who was kidnapped by traffickers. He’s not Derek, the kid taken in by a nefarious gang leader. He’s just Derek, a naive teenager wearing the same starched uniform and crooked smile as the rest of them. 

“Yeah, been practicing my header.” 

When he says it he makes sure not to let his eyes flick over to Isaac. Derek doesn’t even have to look to know the kid is halfway down the block with smoke billowing out of his mouth. The new habit of his kinda pisses Derek off. 

“Thatta boy!” Scott tousles his hair fondly and Derek fights not to wince, “Knew those baby blues could do more than attract the ladies. Speaking of,” he leans in conspiratorially, “I think miss Kate has her eye on you.”

Derek arches his neck to follow Scott’s not so subtle gesture. Across the yard a petite blonde is coyly twirling her hair and pretending she didn’t want to get caught looking their way. She’s soft curves and delicate hands and probably smells like flowers. Exactly what Derek needs.

Scott whistles low, “All right, Mr. Wolf. I see that look in your eye. I fully support it, but I want details. We’re talking blow-by-blow action here, a proper twelve pager on my desk Monday morning.”

Derek rolls his eyes and knocks Scott lightly in the stomach with his elbow. He takes one second to rake his hair back into pre-Scott shape and unbuttons the top two links of his shirt before turning around and sauntering across the grass. Kate notices, and the way she watches encourages him to pull out the smirk he’s been practicing in the mirror. 

“Kate,” he leans against the low brick wall she’s perched on, “I’ve been watching you,” he says boldly, because he’s a fifteen year old boy and supposed to believe he’s immortal. He ducks his head and looks up coyly, enjoying her pretty flush, “have you been watching me?”

Her accent is french and she tastes like cherry lip gloss. For a few moments she makes him forget.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading xx I would love to hear from you! 
> 
> Find me and graphics for all of my stories on tumbler!  
> https://zanniscaramouche.tumblr.com/tagged/Blue-Light


End file.
